Girl Meets A Cliché
by TheAuthor44
Summary: Clichés aren't Maya and Lucas' style. But when something threatens to tear them apart a cliché might just be the thing to bring them back together. One-shot


**Girl Meets a Cliché**

 **By: TheAuthor44**

I had no idea what I was doing, but then again there's not exactly a handbook for this. My legs were trembling, my lungs burning since I was the farthest thing from athletic and my feet were killing me making me question why I only owned platform heels, then I remember that there's a reason he calls me Short-stack. I look around feeling completely hopeless, and as I wipe the sweat from my brow and the blonde locks out of my eyes I think about how I got here. To tell that story I'd have to go back a bit.

 _Two Months Earlier_

It was right before the end of our sophomore year of high school, that's when everything changed. I remember standing by my locker as Lucas approached me with this big goofy grin on his face.

"Hey."

"Hey back. Shouldn't you be heading to that big baseball party of yours?"

Lucas was voted the MVP of the junior varsity baseball team, seeing as he hit the winning run and got them the state championship. The team was throwing a party to celebrate winning, as well as Lucas.

"Yeah I am, but I wanted to know if you'd like to come?"

"Well I'm sure if I didn't Riley would have my head so…"

"Riley's not going. I didn't invite her. Just you."

"Oh." Was all I could manage to say. As soon as the words left his mouth I could hear the alarms going off inside my brain. Sure we had been growing closer … and closer but after that whole triangle mess I promised myself that Lucas would stay a friend and only that.

"Is that okay?" he asked practically begging me to come with his eyes. I knew better, I always know better. But for some reason I ignored my better senses.

"Sure. Let's go." I said as I walked towards the cafeteria where the party was being held with Lucas right on my tail.

The whole time we were at the party he never left my side, no matter what. I was almost enjoying it until I started remembering a campfire and a bunch of stars the second Lucas looked at me with that same gleam in his eye he had that night.

"I'm gonna go get a drink." I said finding any excuse I could to get away. Suddenly the room felt like someone was sucking out all the oxygen and I didn't breathe again until I took a seat on a cafeteria bench facing a wall. It was then I felt the bench dip with the weight of another person and I was relieved when I saw it was Zay.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." He said leaning back against the table.

"I kind of just did. Zay, has Lucas said anything to you about …"

"About you?" He asked almost reading my mind. But then again Zay was always the most observant of our group of friends. "All the time. He's always talking about something you two did together or a new painting of yours he's seen."

"Oh." That seemed to be the word of the day for me then.

"What's going on?" Zay said leaning towards me. I knew I couldn't get out of this, not with him. So I spilled my guts.

"Lucas asked me to come to this party with him, me, not Riley or Farkle or anyone else. And now he's staying with me and including me with all his baseball friends and looking at me how he used to with that face. Okay well that's a lie, he's always looked at me that way. But now there's no Riley, or libraries or confused feelings. And … I'm terrified." I said as I laid my head in my hands.

"Look, I know he's hurt you in the past..."

"No, that's just it. He never hurt me. I hurt me, I hurt myself because I run away from my feelings. And things have been so good with us. With me and him, it's finally starting to feel okay. But what if he wants more than okay? What if I want more too?"

"Okay I'm gonna stop you right there. Yes, Lucas wants more. Yes, he invited you here because he wants to see if you guys can work things out. And no, I don't think you'd be making a big mistake. You guys are great together, from what I've seen anyways. I have no idea what you two do when no one else is around, but that's not really any of my business." He joked. I couldn't help but roll my eyes as I playfully shoved him.

"So what you're saying is…"

"Go get him girl." Zay said giving me a signature smile and a pat on the back before getting up and heading back to his teammates. As I got up to follow him I locked eyes with Lucas from across the room, and I knew there was a conversation that we needed to have. But first there was a window I had to climb through.

"Tell me everything. What did he say? What did you say? Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me." Riley said before I even had both feet in the window.

"You knew? Of course you knew. He would never do anything with me before talking to you."

"Actually I told him to do something."

"You did?"

"Maya, I see how you two are together. Your brighter when he's around. And anyway Lucas and I figured out our stuff almost a year ago. There's nothing left but friendship there."

"You're sure, because I would never…"

"I know."

The look in Riley's eyes told me she was telling the truth. So with a deep breath I hugged my best friend and made my way back out the window.

"Go get him girl."

"Why does everyone keep saying that to me?"

I made it back to the school just as the party was ending. I stood outside waiting before Lucas finally came outside.

"Hey, where'd you go? I've been looking all over for …"

But I didn't let him finish. Instead I did what I had wanted to do since that night by the campfire and this time, I was the one doing the face grabbing. It kind of made sense that I would initiate my own first kiss, now that I think about it. Because I definitely wasn't doing any thinking during.

It only lasted a few seconds, I can still feel them. Warm and soft, and a little wet but I didn't care. I had this feeling, a rush and a calm all at the same time, and I loved every second of it.

When we pulled apart I had to stifle the giggle that was rising in my throat as he blinked a couple of times before finally bringing his head back down from the clouds.

"Um…" was all he said but his smile was like a paperback, filling me in on every thought.

"That was good." I replied biting my lip.

"Yeah, but we should probably go somewhere and talk about that." From the way he was looking at me I knew I had his full attention. "But first." He said pulling me back in for my second best kiss ever. And that was just the beginning.

The rest of the summer was then spent going out on dates, staying up all night talking, holding hands and doing pretty much everything else a boyfriend and girlfriend do. All except one thing, I mean not because I didn't want to, I just wanted to be smarter than some of my other family members had been at my age. If I put all the best parts of our summer together it would look like some cheesy movie and I probably would've hated us … if I wasn't falling more and more for Lucas every day. And I wasn't running from anything this time.

But that didn't mean it wouldn't be leaving me.

I knew something was wrong the minute I saw his face. He was sitting at one of the tables outside of Topanga's waiting for me like he usually did, except instead of a smile or a wink I was greeted with an expression that was a mix of rage and sorrow.

"Hey Huckleberry. Is something wrong?"

"Sit down, there's something I need to tell you."

I slowly pulled out the chair across from him, my heart was beating in my ears at this point, but I put up my guard readying myself for the worst. But nothing I did would've prepared me for what he was about to say, the five words that would bring my entire world crashing down around me.

"We're moving back to Texas."

If there were words for how I felt after that, they hadn't been invented yet. And from the looks of it, Lucas was doing about as well as I was.

"What? Why?" I somehow managed to ask.

"My dad says that the traveling back and forth for work is unnecessary now that my … anger problem seems to be under control. I almost lost it when he said that."

"Stay." I said after a pause. It was the only thing I could get out.

"I can't, there's no way. If there was you know I'd do it. I don't even think Riley could fix this."

"Stay." I said again, hoping he could see how much this was killing me inside. "We're together now … and if you leave, that's all going to change."

"It doesn't have to. We can make it work, do long distance. Zay and Vanessa did it."

"Zay and Vanessa broke up. I don't want to break up … we can't break up." Now I was getting angry. After everything we'd been through to get here he was just going to give up. Just like that. I practically flew out of my seat so that I was standing over him. He needed to know that I was serious, and that I wasn't done talking about this. But it took one look in his eyes and I knew that he wasn't giving up, he was fighting the urge inside him to do something the old Lucas would do. He was fighting his baser instincts to be the kind of guy he thought I deserved, he's told me that a thousand times. It was then I decided to do something for him.

"We can try long distance, or we can just end things now while they're still good. End in a way that we can look back on one day and smile because of it. I don't want this to turn into some big fight, we fight enough on our own as it is. I'd rather remember the summer of holding hands, and ice cream kisses, and being happier than I ever thought I could be in my life." He wasn't looking at me anymore so I reached down and lifted him by the front of his shirt making him look in my eyes. It was then that I saw the glisten in his of unshed tears.

"I don't want us to ever hate each other."

"I could never." He said finally moving and taking me in his arms. We stood there for what seemed like forever before we finally remembered there was a world turning around us.

"I don't want this to be the end of us." I heard Lucas mumble into the top of my head.

With those words my heart shattered. I suddenly remembered why I ran from my feelings. Because of the last time I heard those words, because of the last time something got between us. Something was always pulling us apart and I couldn't figure out why. But in that moment it seemed easier to just let it happen, let the universe do what it wanted with us.

I didn't see Lucas for a couple of weeks after that. I didn't even go to the going away party Riley threw for him at Topanga's since it was a party that got me into this mess in the first place. Actually no, that had been a subway car. I didn't want to stay home alone so I waited in the bay window. And that's where Riley found me rocking myself back and forth a couple of hours later.

"How is he?" I asked as she came to sit down next to me.

"Devastated. He was looking for you."

"Did he ask where I was or why I wasn't there?"

"No, he knows why. He just kept looking up at the door … hoping."

"I know what you're about to say but please don…"

"I think you should go find him and talk to him."

"Riley."

"No Maya, this is what a best friend is supposed to do. I'm supposed to stop you from making a huge mistake."

"Can you just leave it alone, please?"

"No. I can't just sit back and let you do what you always do. Stop running from your feelings Maya. You don't always have to do this."

"That's not what's happening here so just please leave it alone."

"No you're doing this for yourself. You're not even thinking about how Lucas feels."

"I'm doing this for Lucas!" I finally screamed out. Riley looked shocked but she stayed quiet and just waited for an explanation.

"You didn't see him when he told me. You didn't see the look in his eyes, he looked … broken. And I know what broken feels like and I would never want anyone I care about to feel that way, especially him. So I figured instead of fighting him I would just try and make it easier on him to leave. Clean break. That way he could move on with his life and not have me weighing down on him."

"You don't think this is weighing on him. Maya no matter what you do he won't just get over you and move on."

"He has to."

"But he won't."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he's in love with you!" Riley said immediately clasping her hands over her mouth. "He accidentally blurted it out to me last week, kind of like how I just blurted it out to you. But it's the truth Maya. He loves you and I know you love him, and if you don't realize how special that is and do something now, by the time you do it might be too late. You'll both end up old and alone and looking back with regrets."

If I'm being honest I had to ask Riley to repeat that last part because after she told me that Lucas was in love with me; everything else kind of faded to the background. But I knew she was right, even if we stayed broken up I had to tell him how I felt. Because I might never get the chance to again.

"I have to go, when does his flight leave?"

"In two hours, but Maya its rush hour you'll never get there in time."

"Don't say that Riley, I'm not giving up hope. And neither should you."

I ran down the fire escape as fast as I could and hopped in a taxi, savings be damned. Once we were on the street that's when we hit the worst traffic in New York City history. Or at least that's how it seemed to me. Finally, we got to the airport and as I threw money at the guy I saw I had fifteen minutes to find Lucas. Piece of cake right.

I ran in and immediately looked for a way to sneak in and just as I was about to climb under some ropes…

"Excuse me miss, where do you think you're going?" The big security guard said as she pulled me back.

"Okay look lady, usually I'd sweet talk my way out of this but I don't have time because the guy I love is flying back home to Texas and before he leaves I need to tell him that I love him because I was too stupid to say it beforehand."

"Sweet story but I can't just let anyone in. Love isn't a good enough reason."

"Please you have to let me in." I said fighting and trying just to get through.

"Oh come on have a heart, let the girl through." I heard a familiar voice say behind me. I turned around to see none other than Crazy Hat herself.

"Ms. Rand? What are you doing here?"

"Helping out one of my little dollies. Now listen here Magumbo, this little girl is with me."

"Of course Ms. Rand. So sorry for the inconvenience." The security guard said as she opened one of the ropes and let us through.

"Thank you!" I said as we finally made it to the terminals.

"Anytime sweetie-pie. Now go get him girl!"

I smiled at her before running through the airport as fast as my feet could carry me. I looked all over for a flight that was going to Texas and there was only one on the board, but it was all the way on the other side of the airport.

And that's where we catch up to the present. Me standing in the middle of an airport, feet killing me, lungs burning, sweat dripping. But remembering why I'm here, who I'm here for, I keep going.

I'm almost to the terminal when I look at the board and see that the fight for Texas has the word 'Departed' next to it.

"No!" I scream as I run to the board. I couldn't believe it; I didn't make it. I could never tell Lucas how I feel. I would never get to see him again. I would never again lay my head on his shoulder when we sit next to each other and smell the pine scented body wash he used. Or fit my hand perfectly in his even though mine is half the size. I would never get to kiss him again and feel that comfort rush that I needed when I was frustrated with something. His smile, his laugh, his eyes, his whole Huckleberry face was on a plane flying far away, taking his wonderful Huckleberry heart with it. Tears welled up in my eyes and I forced them away. I did this to myself, there was no one else to blame.

I walked down to the terminal to find it was empty, and so was my life now. I took a seat as I looked out the window where the plane had been. The stars were out and I looked at them wondering if Lucas was looking at them too. After a while I decided to stop torturing myself and made my way back out of the airport. I watched all the people with their loved ones reuniting and looked down at the floor. It was all too painful. When I looked back up however I saw a very familiar looking back of a head. I found myself moving towards it on instinct and sure enough when the person stood up and turned … I knew exactly who it was.

"Lucas!" I shouted but it didn't look like he heard me. Suddenly his father came over and pointed towards one of the terminals before heading that way himself. Lucas stayed behind however, staring down at his phone. That's when I decided to strike. I used whatever strength I had left in my legs and I ran towards him making a beeline for the seats. With momentum I hopped up on one of the chairs before tackling him to the ground. We landed next to each other on the floor surrounded by luggage. After the initial shock wore off he turned to see who had attacked him.

"Hey Huckleberry." I said before wincing in pain. I had no idea what I landed on but it hurt, definitely not one of my better ideas.

"Maya?" He said standing up before extending his arms to me. "What are you doing here?" He asked as he helped me to my feet, but once I saw the smile on his face and the light in his eyes I could help but throw my arms around him and pull him close.

"I thought you were gone." I muffled into his shirt before pulling away and kissing him with everything I had.

"I love you."

"I love you too." He said lifting me up and holding me in his arms. He squeezed me like his life depended on it and I wasn't letting go any time soon. When he did put me down eventually he just looked into my eyes and wiped the hair out of my face.

"Have you been running?" He asked.

"Yeah, I ran all over the airport because I had to find you."

"I honestly didn't think you were coming. What made you change your mind?"

"You. Loving you has changed me in the best possible ways and I couldn't let you leave without telling you how much you mean to me. And now that I have … you can go."

"I can't go."

"What?"

"I can't go. How can I go? We love each other and that has to mean something more, it does mean more. I'm not going."

"Lucas…"

"I'm gonna talk to my dad. I'm staying and that's that. Come on." He said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the terminal where his father was waiting.

Lucas fought with his father for a long time until the plane arrived and everyone was boarding. Finally, Mr. Friar agreed Lucas could stay with his Uncle Zed who lived in Brooklyn and he happily accepted, the commute was worth it as long as he could stay.

After that his father boarded and Lucas and I ran to catch a bus back to the city. As we snuggled together I couldn't help but think about how cliché it all was. A mad dash to the airport, a confession of love leading to a compromise that resolved the problem.

Though I have to say it felt good to defy the universe, or maybe this was its plan for us all along. To test our relationship, or to test us to see how much we really care.

Either way at the end of the day it felt right.

No running. No fear. Just love.

And besides who doesn't love a cliché.

 **THE END**


End file.
